Influencer Outreach: The Millennial Moms Way

The blogosphere has been my refuge ever since I started my journey to motherhood six years ago. Little did I know that it will also make way for new connections and opportunities that led me to the kind of career I have now. And I commend it all on having satisfactory influencer outreach strategies that I learned through the course of my blogging and freelance writing career.

At first, I never knew that my goal to build relationships with fellow bloggers and writers was tantamount to reaching out to the influencers; until I received bids for guest postings, sponsored posts, events appearance, and job offers from them!

So, how do I reach out to influencers?

• Look for the right people who possess authority and expertise pertinent to my brand. Since I am a mom blogger and a freelance writer, I look for people involved in my field. By doing so, I am certain that their followers will also be interested in my content once they share it. Let me reiterate that these people must be established influencers. You’ll know that they are indeed powerful by the number of their followers, readers and most of the time by their website’s rankings. As a mom blogger, I find it easier to find influencers through blog hopping. Also, from my experience, most mom bloggers like me are also into freelance writing therefore it’s like hitting two birds with one stone.

• Start the chasing game. By the time I knew who the influencers are, I started chasing them— but on a good way. I made myself present to all of their social media accounts by following them, liking and commenting on their blogs. I may have looked like a stalker, but knowing that they are also active on multiple sites I am perfectly fine on stalking. The key here was to build relationships so I always keep it on a personal tone by saying their first name when I make comment or tweet. I also use my real name on social media accounts for them to become familiar about who I am.

• Get in touch. I will know when it is time to get in touch once they liked my comment, retweet my tweet or better yet, gave me a shout out through their social media accounts. It only means that they recognised my presence and that they are aware of me and my brand somehow. These are the signs so I give my best shot when I craft personal messages for them. As always, I started on first name basis, telling a bit of what I knew about them and on how I looked up to their contributions on the field that we were both in to. This is when I become honest too and express my true intent. Influencers are busy people and they know in an instant that there is a reason behind me sending them a message apart from being just friendly of course! Say a request to have a guest post on their site, a shout out or even a recommendation to their followers. The relationship is established, I believed, once they comply wholeheartedly. Hurray!

• Cherish the relationship. I maintain my influencer relationship even after my wish had been granted. I know how it is to feel like being used and then dumped the moment I gave my all. I never do this. So, I make sure to give thanks and maintain the same level of connection with them as I did from the start.

Do I use tools in reaching out to influencers?

As a neophyte in Social Media Management, I tend to look for resources and tools where I can reach out to influencers. There are a lot actually and often times it is overwhelming. As of now, I still stick to what I am most accustomed to:

Buzzsumo. In my line of work, being a blogger and a freelance writer, I focus on content marketing and SEO most of the time. I use the free version of Buzzsumo in looking for the most popular content shared by influencers. Again, like I said, it’s hitting two birds with one stone. Visit Buzzsumo.

Blogs. Blog hopping is my favorite past time. Not only do I get to reach out to influencers, but I also learn new things from these fellow bloggers.

Social Networks. This by far, is the easiest and most convenient way to keep in touch to influencers.

Safety precautions when following influencers.

I mentioned earlier that one of my considerations when choosing influencers to follow is through the number of their followers. Be wary though because there are people who acquire fake followers in order to look like an influencer. Fake followers can be bought through Fiverr and from other similar sites. You can check out Status People to find who have fake Twitter followers.

Francisco is the owner of Planet Marketing. He has many years of experience online marketing and web development. In his spare time he enjoys writing about internet marketing and web development. He loves coaching people and has a few students.
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